Featured video

Description: A synthetic narcotic, fentanyl has been detected in an increasing number of illicit drug overdose deaths in Metro Vancouver. Many of the people who died were recreational and/or occasional users and don’t appear to have known they were ingesting fentanyl, as it is easily hidden in other drugs.

Ex-cop allegedly pretended to be IHIT member to locate Bacon brothers

Notorious gang associates had to move after RCMP released their address

Ex-cop is accused of impersonating a police officer.

Photograph by: Staff
, Vancouver Sun

ABBOTSFORD - A former undercover RCMP drug cop has been charged with impersonating an officer after he allegedly pretended to be a member of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team to get information about the Bacon brothers’ location from a police database, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Rapinder (Rob) Sidhu, who runs a company called IMAX Investigational Group, is accused of calling the RCMP’s Operations Communications Centre in July 2007, posing as a police officer and requesting the Surrey address where the Bacons were then residing.

At the time, rival gangsters had already targeted the notorious brothers for death. Jon Bacon had been shot in front of his family’s Abbotsford home in September 2006 and barely survived, after which the clan relocated to a Surrey house.

Jamie was shot in Surrey in April 2007, but was not critically wounded.

After the breach, the RCMP had to disclose to the Bacon brothers that their address had been revealed. Sgt. Tim Shields confirmed that a duty to warn was performed in this case, as well as a review of protocols to make sure enough safety measures are in place.

“It is the protocol itself that resulted in this investigation and these charges,” Shields said, adding that as an ex-Mountie, Sidhu “would have had a real familiarity with the protocol.”

Once the breach was discovered, it was extremely disturbing to police, given that the centre is routinely called by officers in the field seeking information from computer databases.

“It was troubling to the investigators and to the RCMP and that’s why we pursued this case so vigorously,” Shields said.

The leak is the reason the Bacon brothers first moved to Port Moody in the summer of 2007, renting a penthouse on the 22nd floor of a highrise at 295 Guildford Ave. — the same building where their parents later purchased a condo.

Port Moody Police Chief Brad Parker told The Sun he found out from a police surveillance detail some time after the move that the Bacons had taken up residence in his community.

“We learned through discussions that there had been a breach of security with their address in Surrey and as a result of that, the Bacons had relocated and ended up in Port Moody,” Parker said. “We later learned that it had been a breach of security out of [the operations centre], though we didn’t know the circumstances around that breach. And later on we were advised that the RCMP were investigating that issue. We had not heard back regarding that investigation until you told us about the official charges being laid.”

According to court papers obtained by The Sun, Sidhu was charged in January 2008 related to the breach on July 31, 2007.

His next scheduled appearance in Surrey Provincial Court is on June 17.

Sidhu, 41, resigned from the RCMP after 11 years on the job in July 2003, the month he pleaded guilty to inflicting fear of injury in a domestic case.

“He resigned during an internal investigation,” Shields said. Since Sidhu left the RCMP, Shields said, he “has been known to associate with the criminal element.”

Because he had been an undercover operator, there was concern about other undercover officers and methods being compromised, Shields confirmed.

“Of course it was a major concern, given his role of an undercover operator at the time. It was a significant concern and we took steps to address issues that came up as a result of his resignation,” Shields said.

Sidhu’s lawyer, Matt Nathanson, said Sidhu is presumed innocent and will fight the charge vigorously in court.

“And that’s about all I can really say,” he said Friday.

Sidhu could not be reached for comment.

Members of the Integrated Gang Task Force have stopped a vehicle registered to IMAX Investigational Group being driven by Matt Schader, a close associate of Rob Shannon, the Fraser Valley man sentenced last month to 20 years in a U.S. jail for heading an international drug smuggling ring.

IMAX Investigational has registered four vehicles since it opened in 2006. The company, which lists Sidhu’s Abbotsford residence as its address, got a 2006 BMW in August of that year, according to the personal property registry.

In April 2008, it got a loan for a 2008 Grand Cherokee; on June 4 of last year, IMAX got a 2008 Ford 450 truck; and earlier this year, in January, it took over a loan for a 2008 Range Rover, according to documents, As well, Sidhu co-owns a 2007 Acura with Lianna Maher, the owner of the house where Sidhu resides, and a teenager living at the same address.

The house, on an Abbotsford mountainside, is a five-minute drive from the Bacon family residence. It was purchased in 2004 for $640,000. The 2009 assessment is $790,000.

While IMAX was incorporated on April 25, 2006, it does not have a business licence in Abbotsford, according to a clerk at city hall there. Nor does the company have the required private investigator or security firm licence from the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety.

“The guy has no private investigator’s licence. Neither he nor his company are registered at security programs division as having a private investigators’ licence,” ministry spokesman Brent Lowther said.

The company is not a member of the Private Investigators Association of B.C., president Alan Yuile confirmed this week.

The association has very clear guidelines about misrepresentation in its Code of Ethics.

“Members shall not knowingly misrepresent themselves, their duties, or credentials,” it says. “Members shall not engage in any unlawful or unethical practice. … Members in all cases shall counsel against any illegal or unethical course of action.”

No phone number for IMAX Investigational Group is listed in directory assistance. Nor is there a website or other online information about the company.

While still an RCMP officer, Sidhu was charged in March 2003 with a domestic assault. Two months later, two counts of uttering death threats were laid. When Sidhu pleaded guilty in July 2003 to a lesser charge of causing “fear of personal injury,” he had to abide by several conditions, including staying away from two complainants.

In September 2003, he was charged with a number of fraud counts in Abbotsford after an investigation by RCMP E Division headquarters in Vancouver. The fraud allegations involved six counts of obtaining tens of thousands of dollars in credit under false pretences from the TD Canada Trust and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on several dates from 1999 to 2003.

On August 23, 2005, he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 and received a 12-month conditional sentence concurrent on both counts.

As part of his sentence, Sidhu had to abide by a curfew and was ordered to pay $1,500 a month “until full restitution is paid in the amount of $33,412.37.”

The three Bacons remained in the rented Port Moody penthouse until May 31, 2008 when middle brother Jarrod and Jamie, the youngest, were arrested in a dramatic take-down in Burnaby and charged with 24 gun and drug counts that are still before the court. Their next appearance in that case is May 12, also in Surrey Provincial Court.

The Bacons, their friends and associates, have been the subject of four extraordinary public warnings in the last year when police claimed anyone anywhere near Jonathan, 28, Jarrod, 26, or Jamie, 23, could be killed in the crossfire as rivals attempted to kill them.

Earlier this week, three men linked to the United Nations gang were charged with conspiracy to commit murder for plotting to kill all three Bacons. Several others whose identities have not yet been revealed are also expected to be charged.

The conspiracy is alleged to have unfolded in Surrey, Vancouver and Montreal from April 15, 2008 to Feb. 17, 2009. Jamie was being followed everywhere by a marked police vehicle until he was arrested April 4 and charged with first-degree murder in connection with one of six Surrey slayings.

Police in Abbotsford and Port Moody have said they spent tens of thousands on extra security and surveillance because of the threats to the Bacons, who are closely aligned with the Red Scorpion gang.

Parker said the fact the Bacons have spent time living in Port Moody over the last two years has been a drain on police resources. Jon Bacon still lives in a rented highrise there, though Jamie and Jarrod must reside at their parents’ Abbotsford home as a bail condition.

Long-time associate Dennis Karbovanec was also eating up resources in Port Moody until his guilty plea in the Surrey Six case earlier this month.

“It has created a whole situation for our community ... as well as a resource issue for us. We never did hear back on the other side of it what the results were in relation to the alleged breach, but it has put a significant drain on the community and the police department,” Parker said.

“At the end of the day, materially, it is something that we had to deal with. It is unfortunate that it happened — or is alleged to have happened — in that fashion, right?”

Just this week, Jon Bacon told Port Moody police that if he moved again, he was reluctant to give his new address to them as required by his bail conditions because of what happened with the RCMP breach in Surrey.

Shields said the RCMP is glad to be rid of Sidhu and takes criminal allegations against any member very seriously.

“If there is any allegation that a member of the RCMP is involved in criminal activity, we investigate that allegation as quickly and as vigorously as humanly possible because the last thing we want is one of our own involved in crime,” Shields said Friday. “We are very grateful that this man is no longer associated to the RCMP.”

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.